Needless to say, I am honored to preside
at Bob’s memorial service today. Bob was
a pretty special guy. He was a good and
gentle man, a good friend to me, and I was privileged to be his pastor and
priest for these recent years.
Sue, Terri, Mike, Kathy, all the
family, my heart goes out to you. I know
your grief over your now being separated from Bob. I will miss his him, as we all will, until we
are all reunited around God’s throne in heaven.
Bob and Sue both have been my heroes
in the growing old department. They have done it right. I have fond memories of Bob that I will
cherish. One of my favorites is Wednesday
fellowship suppers here at Holy Trinity.
Bob always enjoyed them. He
enjoyed the food and being with his friends.
Many of you will remember this… On Wednesday nights, before he did
anything else, he would go to the dessert table and pick out desserts for Sue
and himself. Making a choice was not a
problem for Bob; if more than one looked good, he would just take two. He would then lead the way through the buffet
line, which seemed right to us in that Bob and Sue were the eldest, the matriarch
and patriarchs of the parish.
I admired Bob for his solid
spirituality and a care for people.
Sitting with the family at Posey’s Funeral Home earlier this week, Kathy
shared with me that her Dad regularly, almost nightly, called to ask she was
and how her family were doing. Mike as a
trucker knew of his father’s concern for his safety and wellbeing. The family has shared with me about their
father’s devotion to his evening prayers in which he would pray for all these
things.
Bob was a man who lived well the life God
gave him; so, in the midst of our sadness at his absence, we have much to
celebrate:
- We celebrate Bob’s
93 years among us.
- We celebrate God
who gave Bob to us for these 93 years.
- And we celebrate
the rest of Bob’s story, which is his inheritance as a child of God of eternal life
with his Father in heaven.
To be in union with Him forever is the
reason God created Bob in the first place. Bob was created out of love, to be
the object of God’s love, with the divine ability to Love God in return. As for loving God in return, Bob surely did
that.
Bob was not perfect; none of us are? But Bob was a person who called on God to help
him push back the evils of this world. For
us all, sin, rebellion, neglecting of God- all these things get in the way of a
redeeming and salvific relationship with our heavenly Father. In our fallen human condition, we find that we
are powerless to overcome our propensity for such things, but God in Christ He
does for us that we cannot do for ourselves. This is what Jesus is all about. Bob had this kind of saving relationship with
Christ and is therefore tsken his place at the great banquet feast of the Lamb,
to borrow from that powerful biblical imagery.
A few minutes ago, during the family’s
procession into the church, I recited pieces of Scripture, one was part of Jesus’
conversation with Martha, the sister of Jesus’ friend Lazarus. who had died,
and Martha was in deep grief, and frankly, in deep puzzlement, about it all. This story is recorded in the Gospel of John,
chapter 11: Let me read it to you: “23 Jesus said to Martha, ‘Your brother will rise
again.’ 24 Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise
again in the resurrection on the last day.” 25
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection; I am life. Whoever believes in me,
though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes [that, is
trust] in me shall never die. Jesus goes on to ask Martha a question,
“Do you believe this, Martha?” She
answers, “Yes, Lord, I believe.” This was Bob’s answer to Jesus also. I pray that this is the answer, or will be
the answer, that all of us here today will give to God.
This reveals a bedrock fact about our God:
He did not create Bob to just live three-score and ten years, as Psalm 90 puts
it, and then simply return to the dust from which he came, as Genesis 3 puts it. It is likely that a number of us here today
believe that because it is what our materialistic culture teaches us. Bob answered Jesus’ question to Martha with
his own yes, and therefore the curse of Genesis 3 for him is broken. The curse of Genesis 3 is, of course, the death
and eternal separation from God. For
Bob, death no longer has the last word in his life, Jesus does. Bob’s life is characterized, at least in the
time I have known him, by his pursuit of this salvific, curse-breaking, love-relationship
with God. In return, God has pursued him,
forgiven him, redeemed him, and now, gathered Bob to Himself.
Finally let me say, Bob’s relationship
with his Lord is reflected in his relationships with all of us. I have seen it in his kindness, generosity, servanthood,
hospitality, and sacrificial giving to his family and to all of us. So, we have much to celebrate today.
Let’s pray:
Almighty God, creator and sustainer of
us all, our hearts of full of thankfulness for Bob but be close to us as we deal
with our separation from him, albeit for only for a little while. Continue to cover this family with the
richness of your grace bestowing on them your joy and peace that surpasses understanding. We pray this in the holy name of our Lord and
redeemer, Jesus Christ. Amen
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